French Provencal

French Provencal grew out of the farmhouses (mas) of Provence — Luberon, Vaucluse, Bouches-du-Rhône — built from local limestone with thick walls, deep openings, and unfussy timber furniture. The aesthetic is rural elegance, refined by centuries.

Sun-faded colour, hand-formed surfaces, and antique restraint. Walls are limewashed, floors are stone or terracotta, and furniture is olive-wood or fruitwood. Pattern is used sparingly — a single toile, a striped ticking — never wallpapered.

Use limestone, lime plaster, terracotta, wrought iron, antique linen, and olive wood. Palette is lavender, ochre, limestone, faded blue, olive, antique linen. Avoid bright primaries, polished stone, and country-cottage kitsch.

Lives well in any climate if you commit to the materials. Limewash a single wall, install antique linen sheers, find one olive-wood table, and the language reads. Pair beautifully with Mediterranean, modern contemporary, or British traditional.